1918 Professor Longhair*
1921 Cecil Barfield aka 'William Robertson'*
1929 Blind Lemon Jefferson+
1943 Wendell Holmes*
1944 Alvin Lee*
1951 Gerry McAvoy*
1989 Floyd Jones+
1997 Jimmy Rogers+
2000 Pops Staples+
2013 Eric “Guitar” Davis+
Kari Kempas*
Happy Birthday
Alvin Lee *19.12.1944
Alvin Lee, mit bürgerlichem Namen Graham Anthony Barnes, (* 19. Dezember 1944 in Nottingham; † 6. März 2013 in Marbella (Spanien)[1]) war ein britischer Bluesrockgitarrist und -sänger.
Karriere
Frühe Jahre
Lee stammte aus einer musikalischen Familie. Seine Eltern und seine Schwester spielten Country-Musik und traten gelegentlich als Gitarrentrio auf. Im Alter von zwölf Jahren erlernte er das Klarinettenspiel, ein Jahr später wechselte auch er zur Gitarre.
Mit 13 Jahren trat er dem Fanklub von Elvis Presley bei, um an Fotos von dessen Bandgitarristen Scotty Moore heranzukommen, mit dem er später dann zusammen auftreten sollte. Lee spielte in diversen Bands wie The Atomics, Jaymen, Jaybirds sowie auch bei Ivan Jay and the Jaycats, aus denen später die Band Ten Years After hervorging. Sein Gitarrenstil war insbesondere durch Elemente aus dem Jazz geprägt. Anfang der 1960er Jahre übernahm Lee auch den Gesang. Zu dieser Zeit hatte er bereits ein längeres Engagement im Hamburger Star-Club absolviert, kurz nachdem die Beatles dort aufgetreten waren.
Ten Years After
Berühmt wurde Alvin Lee mit Ten Years After, die mit ihrem energischen Bluesrock-Sound in der damaligen Rockszene tonangebend waren. Legendär geworden ist ihr Auftritt beim Woodstock-Festival. Der Konzertfilm zeigt die rasend schnell gespielten Gitarrenläufe in dem Zehn-Minuten-Stück I’m Going Home, ebenso die mit Peace-Zeichen versehene knallrote Gibson ES-335, die zu Lees Markenzeichen wurde. In Fachkreisen galt er als der schnellste Gitarrist der Welt. Ende der 1960er Jahre traf Lee einige Male mit Jimi Hendrix zusammen, dem insbesondere Lees Solo in dem Song I Can’t Keep from Crying gefiel und dem selbst etwas Ähnliches vorschwebte. Ten Years After existierten zunächst bis 1974.
Nach mehreren Phasen der sporadischen Zusammenarbeit gründeten drei Original-Bandkollegen Lees 2003 mit dem jungen Gitarristen Joe Gooch eine Neuauflage der Gruppe, die bis 2013 aktiv war.[2] 2014 verließen Joe Gooch und Lee Lions die Gruppe. Marcus Bonfanti (Lead Guitar) und Colin Hodgkinson (Bass) ersetzten die beiden.[3]
Alvin Lee mit diversen Bands
Nach seiner Trennung von Ten Years After spielte Lee unter diversen Bandnamen wie Alvin Lee & Company oder Ten Years Later. Des Weiteren spielte er mit Mick Taylor und George Harrison, der auch auf dem Großteil seiner Soloalben zu hören ist. George Harrison war ebenfalls beteiligt, als Lee 1973, vor der Auflösung seiner Band Ten Years After, mit dem US-amerikanischen Gospelsänger Mylon LeFevre das Album On the Road to Freedom aufnahm. Ebenfalls an den Aufnahmen beteiligt waren Steve Winwood, Tim Hinkley, Ian Wallace, Ron Wood und Mick Fleetwood.
Späte Jahre
Zuletzt lebte Lee in Südspanien. 2012 veröffentlichte er das Album Still on the road to freedom, dessen Titel sich auf das Album von 1973 On the road to freedom bezieht, sein erstes Solo-Album nach Ten Years After.
Lee starb am 6. März 2013 an den Folgen eines chirurgischen Routineeingriffs.
Alvin Lee (19 December 1944 – 6 March 2013) was an English guitarist and singer, best known as the lead guitarist and lead singer with the blues-rock band Ten Years After.
Early life
He was born Graham Anthony Barnes in Nottingham[1] and attended the Margaret Glen-Bott School in Wollaton[2] which was a precursor to Comprehensive Schools with grammar and secondary modern streams.[3] He began playing guitar at the age of 13, and with Leo Lyons formed the core of the band Ten Years After in 1960. Influenced by his parents' collection of jazz and blues records, it was the advent of rock and roll that sparked his interest, and guitarists such as Chuck Berry and Scotty Moore provided his inspiration.[citation needed]
Career
Lee began to play professionally in 1962, in a band named the Jaybirds, who enjoyed popularity in their native England, but moved on to seek a wider fan-base. They began that year to perform in the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany, following closely behind The Beatles. There, with Alvin Lee assuming the permanent role of lead vocalist in addition to that of lead guitarist, they began to build a following. It was not until the band moved to London in 1966 and changed its name, first to Jaybird, dropping 'The' and 's' to make it sound more contemporary; then to Blues Yard (for one gig at the Marquee Club); and finally to Ten Years After, that international success beckoned. The band secured a residency at the Marquee Club, and an invitation to the Windsor Jazz & Blues Festival in 1967 led to their first recording contract. The self-titled début album received airplay on San Francisco's underground music radio stations and was embraced by listeners, including concert promoter Bill Graham, who invited the band to tour the United States for the first time in 1968. Ten Years After would ultimately tour the US twenty-eight times in seven years – more than any other UK band.[citation needed]
Lee's performance at the Woodstock Festival was captured on film in the documentary of the event, and his 'lightning-fast' playing[4] helped catapult him to stardom.[5] Soon the band was playing arenas and stadiums around the globe. The film brought Lee's music to a worldwide audience, although he later lamented that he missed the lost freedom and spiritual dedication with his earlier public.[6]
Lee was named "the Fastest guitarist in the West", and considered a precursor to shred-style playing that would develop in the 1980s.[7]
Ten Years After had success, releasing ten albums together, but by 1973, Lee was feeling limited by the band's style. Moving to Columbia Records had resulted in a radio hit song, "I'd Love To Change the World", but Lee preferred blues-rock to the pop to which the label steered them. He left the group after their second Columbia LP. With American Christian rock pioneer Mylon LeFevre, along with guests George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Ronnie Wood and Mick Fleetwood, he recorded and released On the Road to Freedom, an acclaimed album that was at the forefront of country rock. Also in 1973 he sat in on the Jerry Lee Lewis double album The Session recorded in London featuring many other guest stars including Albert Lee, Peter Frampton and Rory Gallagher. A year later, in response to a dare, Lee formed Alvin Lee & Company to play a show at the Rainbow in London and released it as a double live album, In Flight. Various members of the band continued on with Lee for his next two albums, Pump Iron! and Let It Rock. In late 1975, he played guitar for a couple of tracks on Bo Diddley's The 20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll all-star album. He finished out the 1970s with an outfit called "Ten Years Later", with Tom Compton on drums and Mick Hawksworth on bass, which released two albums, Rocket Fuel (1978) and Ride On (1979), and toured extensively throughout Europe and the United States.
The 1980s brought another change in Lee's direction, with two albums that were collaborations with Rare Bird's Steve Gould, and a tour with the former John Mayall and Rolling Stones' guitarist Mick Taylor joining his band.
Lee's overall musical output includes more than twenty albums, including 1985's Detroit Diesel, 1989's About Time (Ten Years After album), recorded in Memphis with producer Terry Manning, and the back to back 1990s collections of Zoom and Nineteen Ninety-Four (US title I Hear You Rockin' ). Guest artists on both albums included George Harrison.
In Tennessee, recorded with Scotty Moore and D. J. Fontana, was released in 2004. Lee's last album, Still on the Road to Freedom, was released in September 2012.
Lee died on 6 March 2013 in Spain.[8] According to his website, he died from "unforeseen complications following a routine surgical procedure".[9][10][11] He was 68. His former bandmates lamented his death. Leo Lyons called him "the closest thing I had to a brother", while Ric Lee (no relation) said "I don't think it's even sunk in yet as to the reality of his passing". Billboard highlighted such landmark performances as "I'm Going Home" from the Woodstock festival and his 1971 hit single "I'd Love to Change the World".
Alvin Lee's Ten Years Later - Rockpalast Live (1978)
Professor Longhair *19.12.1918
Biographie
Frühe Jahre
Seit seinem zweiten Lebensjahr lebte der später „Professor Longhair“ oder „Fess“ genannte Musiker in New Orleans. Seine Mutter Ella Mae Byrd spielte selbst in Jazz-Bands das Piano und förderte schon früh das musikalische Talente ihres Sohnes. Geld verdiente sich Henry als Jugendlicher mit Straßen-Stepptanz sowie mit einem Werbesong für Schlangenöl-Medizin. Sein erstes Klavier fand er angeblich im Sperrmüll, diverse Tasten fehlten, was Henry nicht vom Spielen abhielt. Später arbeitete er als Koch, kurzzeitig auch als Boxer, und immer wieder betätigte er sich als Kartenspieler. Um 1937 fand er als Pianist und Gitarrist erstmals ein größeres Publikum: er spielte vor Kollegen, die mit ihm in Arbeitsbeschaffungsprogrammen der Regierung Roosevelt arbeiteten. Beeinflusst war sein Spiel damals auch vom Boogie-Woogie des kreolischen New Orleans-Musikers Tuts Washington (1907–1984).
Erfolge
Longhair diente im Zweiten Weltkrieg bis zum Jahr 1943. Ab 1947/48 nahm seine Laufbahn als Profi-Musiker Konturen an: er trat im örtlichen Caledonia Club auf und erhielt dort auch seinen Künstlernamen. Seine Band „Professor Longhair and the Four Hairs“ verdrängte die Combo des Bandleaders Dave Bartholomew, mit dem auch der später so erfolgreiche Fats Domino auftrat. 1949 nahm Longhair dann seine ersten Schallplatten auf, unter anderem vier Stücke für das Star Talent-Label, darunter das legendäre Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Seine Begleitband nannte sich damals aus unerfindlichen Gründen The Shuffling Hungarians. In die Rhythm-&-Blues-Charts kam Longhair allerdings erst 1950 als Roy Byrd & his Blues Jumpers mit dem Hit Bald Head, der auf Platz 5 landete. Die Platte erschien bei Mercury Records und sollte Longhairs einziger nationaler Chart-Hit bleiben.
In New Orleans und in Louisiana wurde Fess aber schnell zu einer Musikgröße. Sein „Mambo-Rumba-Boogie-Stil“ beeinflusste alle Mardi Gras-Klavierspieler, die nach ihm kamen. Dabei spielte der Professor mit einer Hand Boogie-Woogie Bassläufe, synkopierte mit der anderen und sang dazu in seinem unverkennbaren Stil, der auch Elvis Presley inspiriert haben soll. In seiner Musik waren, neben den Rhythmen der Karnevalsparaden und des Zydeco, auch karibische Einflüsse - wie Calypso-Anklänge - zu bemerken; einige von Longhairs Vorfahren stammten von den Westindischen Inseln.
1953 nahm Longhair seinen unvergessenen Titel Tipitina auf. Seit 1977 nennt sich auch ein bekannter Nachtclub in New Orleans nach dem Song. Longhair arbeitete inzwischen für das Plattenlabel Atlantic, wo Kenner populärer Musik wie Jerry Wexler und Ahmet Ertegün produzierten und komponierten. 1959 spielte Professor Longhair nochmals seine Nummer Mardi Gras ein. Es ist diese Version des Songs, die seither regelmäßig beim Karneval in New Orleans erklingt, die „definitive“ Fassung also. 1964/65 wurde eine aufwändige Produktion des Songs Big Chief angeschoben, danach ging es für Fess aber einige Jahre bergab: er musste als Hausmeister arbeiten, fegte - bittere Ironie - Plattenläden aus oder versuchte sich wieder beim Kartenspiel. Zudem verlor er eines seiner Kinder durch ein Gewaltverbrechen.
Wiederentdeckung
Junge R&B-Fans entdeckten den verarmten und teilweise vergessenen Longhair jedoch Anfang der 1970er neu, Fess trat 1971 beim größten Musikfestival des Bundesstaates, dem Jazz & Heritage Festival auf und wurde enthusiastisch gefeiert. 1973 war Longhair zu Gast beim Montreux Jazz Festival. 1975 trat er bei einer privaten Party des Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney an Bord der alten RMS Queen Mary auf. Ab 1977 hatte Longhair endlich in dem erwähnten Nachtclub wieder einen regulären Auftrittsort, Bekanntheiten wie Robbie Robertson und Robert Plant besuchten seine Vorstellungen. 1978 ging Fess auf seine erste Europa-Tour, 1979 auf eine US-Tournee; sogar ein Auftritt im Vorprogramm der Punkband The Clash war geplant.
1979 bekam Professor Longhair zum ersten Mal in seinem Leben freie Hand bei der Produktion eines eigenen Albums. Außerdem wurde ein Dokumentarfilm über ihn gedreht. Longhair starb vor Fertigstellung des Streifens, genau einen Tag vor der Veröffentlichung seines neuen Albums Crawfish Fiesta (Alligator Records). Das Album wurde mit dem W. C. Handy Preis 1980 für das beste zeitgenössische Bluesalbum ausgezeichnet und im Jahr darauf das Album "The London Concert".
Im November 1981 wurde er in die Blues Hall of Fame, im Januar 1992 in die Rock and Roll Hall of Fame aufgenommen. Für die Wiederveröffentlichung seiner frühen Atlantic-Aufnahmen bekam er 1987 postum einen Grammy verliehen. Dank Verwendung seiner Songs in internationalen TV-Werbespots ist die Musik Professor Longhairs heute vielleicht präsenter, als sie es zu seinen Lebzeiten je war.
Die Sessions
Die Musik Professor Longhairs lebte im Wesentlichen in Live-Auftritten. Studioaufnahmen des Professors waren vergleichsweise selten und litten in mehrerlei Hinsicht an einem erheblichen Mangel an Kontinuität.
Seit 1949 spielte Professor Longhair für eine Reihe von Labels Aufnahmen ein, von denen nur einzelne zeitnah veröffentlicht wurden. Eine Reihe von Aufnahmen wurden gar nicht, andere erst Jahre oder gar Jahrzehnte später veröffentlicht.
Viele Aufnahmen Longhairs wurden insbesondere in den frühen 1950er-Jahren unter verschiedenen Namen veröffentlicht. Die Notwendigkeit, einen abweichenden Namen für eine Veröffentlichung zu wählen, beruhte zumeist auf vertraglichen Gründen. So wurden beispielsweise einige Mercury-Aufnahmen aus dem Frühjahr 1950 zu einer Zeit eingespielt und veröffentlicht, als Professor Longhair (unter diesem Namen) einen Exklusivvertrag mit dem kleinen Label Star Talent hatte. Um einen Konflikt mit Star Talent zu vermeiden, veröffentlichte Mercury die Aufnahmen unter dem Namen Roy Byrd And His Blues Jumpers. Ähnlich verhielt es sich mit den (wenigen) Aufnahmen für das kleine Wasco-Label aus Memphis, Tennessee, aus dem Herbst 1950, für die Professor Longhair den Namen Robert Boyd erhielt.
In musikalischer Hinsicht wiederholen sich viele von Longhairs Themen über die Jahrzehnte hinweg. Viele Lieder wurden immer wieder neu eingespielt. Sie unterschieden sich wesentlich im Arrangement, gelegentlich erhielten sie auch andere Bezeichnungen. Mardi Gras in New Orleans etwa spielte Professor Longhair zwischen 1949 und 1978 in mindestens sieben verschiedenen Versionen ein. In einem direkten Vergleich der unterschiedlichen Versionen eines Liedes lässt sich die musikalische Entwicklung Longhairs gut nachverfolgen.
Einige Lieder wurden im Laufe der Jahre mit unterschiedlichen Bezeichnungen eingespielt. Der Klassiker Got My Mojo Working hieß auf Longhairs letztem Album "Crawfish Fiesta" beispielsweise Got My Red Beans Cooking, und das Instrumentalstück 501 Stomp wurde auf einigen Einspielungen auch als Longhair Stomp oder Stompin’ with Fess bezeichnet.
Henry Roeland "Roy" Byrd (December 19, 1918 – January 30, 1980), better known as Professor Longhair, was a New Orleans blues singer and pianist. Professor Longhair is noteworthy for having been active in two distinct periods, both in the heyday of early rhythm and blues, and in the resurgence of interest in traditional jazz after the founding of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
The music journalist Tony Russell, in his book The Blues – From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, stated "The vivacious rhumba-rhythmed piano blues and choked singing typical of Fess were too weird to sell millions of records; he had to be content with siring musical offspring who were simple enough to manage that, like Fats Domino or Huey "Piano" Smith. But he is also acknowledged as a father figure by subtler players like Allen Toussaint and Dr. John."[1][2]
Professor Longhair was born on December 19, 1918 in Bogalusa, Louisiana.[1] His distinctive style was the result of learning to play piano on an instrument that was missing some keys.[1]
He began his career in New Orleans in 1948. Mike Tessitore, owner of the Caldonia Club, gave Longhair his stage name.[3] Longhair first recorded in a band called the Shuffling Hungarians in 1949, creating four songs (including the first version of his signature song, "Mardi Gras in New Orleans") for the Star Talent record label. Union problems curtailed their release, but Longhair's next effort for Mercury Records the same year was a winner.[3] Throughout the 1950s, he recorded for Atlantic Records, Federal Records and other, local, labels. Professor Longhair had only one national commercial hit, "Bald Head" in 1950, under the name Roy Byrd and His Blues Jumpers.[3] He also recorded his favorites, "Tipitina" and "Go to the Mardi Gras".[1] However, he lacked crossover appeal for white audiences.[1]
After suffering a stroke, Professor Longhair recorded "No Buts - No Maybes" in 1957.[3] He re-recorded "Go to the Mardi Gras" in 1959.[3]
He first recorded "Big Chief" with its composer Earl King in 1964. In the 1960s, Professor Longhair's career faltered.[1] He became a janitor to support himself, and fell into a gambling habit.[4]
He appeared at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1971 and at the Newport Jazz Festival and the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1973.[1] His album The London Concert showcases work he did on a visit to the United Kingdom.
By the 1980s his albums, such as Crawfish Fiesta on Alligator and New Orleans Piano for Atlantic, had become readily available across America.[4] He appeared on the PBS series Soundstage (with Dr. John, Earl King, and The Meters) and co-starred in the film documentary Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together.[3] Longhair died of a heart attack while filming was underway.[3][4] Footage from his funeral was included.[3]
In 1981, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. He was awarded a posthumous Grammy for his early recordings released as House Party New Orleans Style, and in 1992 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[5]
The B side of the 1985 Paul McCartney single 'Spies Like Us', entitled 'My Carnival', credited to Paul McCartney and Wings, was recorded in New Orleans and dedicated to Professor Longhair.
Fess's song "Tipitina" was covered by Hugh Laurie on the 2011 CD album "Let Them Talk". Laurie is a long-time fan, having used Fess's "Go to the Mardi Gras" as the theme for the pilot episode of A Bit of Fry & Laurie.
Afro-Cuban elements
In the 1940s, Professor Longhair was playing with Caribbean musicians, listening a lot to Perez Prado's mambo records, and absorbing and experimenting with it all.[6] He was especially enamored with Cuban music. Longhair's style was known locally as rumba-boogie.[7] Alexander Stewart states that Longhair was a key figure bridging the worlds of boogie-woogie and the new style of rhythm and blues."[8] In his composition "Misery," Professor Longhair plays a habanera-like figure in his left hand. The deft use of triplets in the right hand is a characteristic of Longhair's style.
Tresillo, the habanera, and related African-based single-celled figures have long been heard in the left hand part of piano compositions by New Orleans musicians, for example—Louis Moreau Gottschalk ("Souvenirs From Havana" 1859), and Jelly Roll Morton ("The Crave" 1910). One of Longhair's great contributions was the adaptation of Afro-Cuban two-celled, clave-based patterns in New Orleans blues. Michael Campbell states: "Rhythm and blues influenced by Afro-Cuban music first surfaced in New Orleans. Professor Longhair's influence was ... far reaching. In several of his early recordings, Professor Longhair blended Afro-Cuban rhythms with rhythm and blues. The most explicit is 'Longhair's Blues Rhumba,' where he overlays a straightforward blues with a clave rhythm."[9] The guajeo-like piano part for the rumba-boogie "Mardi Gras in New Orleans" (1949), employs the 2-3 clave onbeat/offbeat motif.[10] The 2-3 clave time-line is written above the piano excerpt for reference.
According to Dr. John (Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr.), the Professor "put funk into music ... Longhair's thing had a direct bearing I'd say on a large portion of the funk music that evolved in New Orleans."[11] This is the syncopated, but straight subdivision feel of Cuban music (as opposed to swung subdivisions). Alexander Stewart states that the popular feel was passed along from "New Orleans—through James Brown's music, to the popular music of the 1970s," adding: "The singular style of rhythm & blues that emerged from New Orleans in the years after World War II played an important role in the development of funk. In a related development, the underlying rhythms of American popular music underwent a basic, yet generally unacknowledged transition from triplet or shuffle feel to even or straight eighth notes.[12] Concerning funk motifs, Stewart states: "This model, it should be noted, is different from a time line (such as clave and tresillo) in that it is not an exact pattern, but more of a loose organizing principle."
The music journalist Tony Russell, in his book The Blues – From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, stated "The vivacious rhumba-rhythmed piano blues and choked singing typical of Fess were too weird to sell millions of records; he had to be content with siring musical offspring who were simple enough to manage that, like Fats Domino or Huey "Piano" Smith. But he is also acknowledged as a father figure by subtler players like Allen Toussaint and Dr. John."[1][2]
Professor Longhair was born on December 19, 1918 in Bogalusa, Louisiana.[1] His distinctive style was the result of learning to play piano on an instrument that was missing some keys.[1]
He began his career in New Orleans in 1948. Mike Tessitore, owner of the Caldonia Club, gave Longhair his stage name.[3] Longhair first recorded in a band called the Shuffling Hungarians in 1949, creating four songs (including the first version of his signature song, "Mardi Gras in New Orleans") for the Star Talent record label. Union problems curtailed their release, but Longhair's next effort for Mercury Records the same year was a winner.[3] Throughout the 1950s, he recorded for Atlantic Records, Federal Records and other, local, labels. Professor Longhair had only one national commercial hit, "Bald Head" in 1950, under the name Roy Byrd and His Blues Jumpers.[3] He also recorded his favorites, "Tipitina" and "Go to the Mardi Gras".[1] However, he lacked crossover appeal for white audiences.[1]
After suffering a stroke, Professor Longhair recorded "No Buts - No Maybes" in 1957.[3] He re-recorded "Go to the Mardi Gras" in 1959.[3]
He first recorded "Big Chief" with its composer Earl King in 1964. In the 1960s, Professor Longhair's career faltered.[1] He became a janitor to support himself, and fell into a gambling habit.[4]
He appeared at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1971 and at the Newport Jazz Festival and the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1973.[1] His album The London Concert showcases work he did on a visit to the United Kingdom.
By the 1980s his albums, such as Crawfish Fiesta on Alligator and New Orleans Piano for Atlantic, had become readily available across America.[4] He appeared on the PBS series Soundstage (with Dr. John, Earl King, and The Meters) and co-starred in the film documentary Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together.[3] Longhair died of a heart attack while filming was underway.[3][4] Footage from his funeral was included.[3]
In 1981, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. He was awarded a posthumous Grammy for his early recordings released as House Party New Orleans Style, and in 1992 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[5]
The B side of the 1985 Paul McCartney single 'Spies Like Us', entitled 'My Carnival', credited to Paul McCartney and Wings, was recorded in New Orleans and dedicated to Professor Longhair.
Fess's song "Tipitina" was covered by Hugh Laurie on the 2011 CD album "Let Them Talk". Laurie is a long-time fan, having used Fess's "Go to the Mardi Gras" as the theme for the pilot episode of A Bit of Fry & Laurie.
Afro-Cuban elements
In the 1940s, Professor Longhair was playing with Caribbean musicians, listening a lot to Perez Prado's mambo records, and absorbing and experimenting with it all.[6] He was especially enamored with Cuban music. Longhair's style was known locally as rumba-boogie.[7] Alexander Stewart states that Longhair was a key figure bridging the worlds of boogie-woogie and the new style of rhythm and blues."[8] In his composition "Misery," Professor Longhair plays a habanera-like figure in his left hand. The deft use of triplets in the right hand is a characteristic of Longhair's style.
Tresillo, the habanera, and related African-based single-celled figures have long been heard in the left hand part of piano compositions by New Orleans musicians, for example—Louis Moreau Gottschalk ("Souvenirs From Havana" 1859), and Jelly Roll Morton ("The Crave" 1910). One of Longhair's great contributions was the adaptation of Afro-Cuban two-celled, clave-based patterns in New Orleans blues. Michael Campbell states: "Rhythm and blues influenced by Afro-Cuban music first surfaced in New Orleans. Professor Longhair's influence was ... far reaching. In several of his early recordings, Professor Longhair blended Afro-Cuban rhythms with rhythm and blues. The most explicit is 'Longhair's Blues Rhumba,' where he overlays a straightforward blues with a clave rhythm."[9] The guajeo-like piano part for the rumba-boogie "Mardi Gras in New Orleans" (1949), employs the 2-3 clave onbeat/offbeat motif.[10] The 2-3 clave time-line is written above the piano excerpt for reference.
According to Dr. John (Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr.), the Professor "put funk into music ... Longhair's thing had a direct bearing I'd say on a large portion of the funk music that evolved in New Orleans."[11] This is the syncopated, but straight subdivision feel of Cuban music (as opposed to swung subdivisions). Alexander Stewart states that the popular feel was passed along from "New Orleans—through James Brown's music, to the popular music of the 1970s," adding: "The singular style of rhythm & blues that emerged from New Orleans in the years after World War II played an important role in the development of funk. In a related development, the underlying rhythms of American popular music underwent a basic, yet generally unacknowledged transition from triplet or shuffle feel to even or straight eighth notes.[12] Concerning funk motifs, Stewart states: "This model, it should be noted, is different from a time line (such as clave and tresillo) in that it is not an exact pattern, but more of a loose organizing principle."
Wendell Holmes *19.12.1943
Die
Holmes Brothers sind eine US- amerikanische Band, die in ihrer Musik
Blues, Gospel, Soul, R&B, Rock and Roll und Country mischen.[1]
Biographische Daten
Die Band besteht aus den Brüdern Sherman (* 29. September 1939 in Plainfield, New Jersey) und Wendell (* 19. Dezember 1943 in Plainfield, New Jersey) Holmes und Popsy Dixon (* 26. Juli 1942 in Norfolk, Virginia). Das musikalische Interesse der Brüder wurde von ihren Eltern geweckt, die sie mit Gospel, aber auch mit dem Blues von Jimmy Reed, Junior Parker und B. B. King vertraut machten. Sherman lernte Klarinette und Klavier, bevor er mit dem Bass begann, Wendell lernte Trompete und Gitarre. Musikalische Erfahrungen sammelten die Brüder in einer Band, die oft Blues- und Soulacts begleitete. 1979 gründeten die Brüder "The Holmes Brothers", gemeinsam mit dem Schlagzeuger Popsy Dixon.
Diese Drei bilden das Herz der Band, für Tourneen verstärken sie sich gelegentlich mit anderen Musikern.[2] Ihr dreistimmiger Harmoniegesang entzückt immer wieder ihre Fans. Wendells rauer Gesang mit Dixons Falsett und Shermans Bariton bringen den Geist der Gospelmusik in jedes Lied, das sie spielen.[1]
Obwohl sie schon jahrelang zusammen in Harlem auftraten, wurden sie erst in den späten 1980er-Jahren bekannt. 1992 unterzeichneten sie bei Peter Gabriels Real World Records als erste amerikanische Gruppe des bekannten World Music Labels. Von da an ging es mit ihrer Karriere steil bergauf, so traten sie mit Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, Willie Nelson, Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel, Merle Haggard, Keith Richards, Al Green, Ben Harper, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Levon Helm, Rosanne Cash, Odetta und anderen auf bzw. nahmen mit ihnen Alben auf. 1996 traten sie im Film "Lotto Land" auf, für den sie auch den Soundtrack schrieben.Zwischen 2007 und der Veröffentlichung ihres letzten Albums kämpfte Wendell Holmes mit Krebs, den er aber besiegte.
Biographische Daten
Die Band besteht aus den Brüdern Sherman (* 29. September 1939 in Plainfield, New Jersey) und Wendell (* 19. Dezember 1943 in Plainfield, New Jersey) Holmes und Popsy Dixon (* 26. Juli 1942 in Norfolk, Virginia). Das musikalische Interesse der Brüder wurde von ihren Eltern geweckt, die sie mit Gospel, aber auch mit dem Blues von Jimmy Reed, Junior Parker und B. B. King vertraut machten. Sherman lernte Klarinette und Klavier, bevor er mit dem Bass begann, Wendell lernte Trompete und Gitarre. Musikalische Erfahrungen sammelten die Brüder in einer Band, die oft Blues- und Soulacts begleitete. 1979 gründeten die Brüder "The Holmes Brothers", gemeinsam mit dem Schlagzeuger Popsy Dixon.
Diese Drei bilden das Herz der Band, für Tourneen verstärken sie sich gelegentlich mit anderen Musikern.[2] Ihr dreistimmiger Harmoniegesang entzückt immer wieder ihre Fans. Wendells rauer Gesang mit Dixons Falsett und Shermans Bariton bringen den Geist der Gospelmusik in jedes Lied, das sie spielen.[1]
Obwohl sie schon jahrelang zusammen in Harlem auftraten, wurden sie erst in den späten 1980er-Jahren bekannt. 1992 unterzeichneten sie bei Peter Gabriels Real World Records als erste amerikanische Gruppe des bekannten World Music Labels. Von da an ging es mit ihrer Karriere steil bergauf, so traten sie mit Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, Willie Nelson, Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel, Merle Haggard, Keith Richards, Al Green, Ben Harper, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Levon Helm, Rosanne Cash, Odetta und anderen auf bzw. nahmen mit ihnen Alben auf. 1996 traten sie im Film "Lotto Land" auf, für den sie auch den Soundtrack schrieben.Zwischen 2007 und der Veröffentlichung ihres letzten Albums kämpfte Wendell Holmes mit Krebs, den er aber besiegte.
The
Holmes Brothers are a musical trio originally from Christchurch,
Virginia.[1] Mixing sounds from blues, soul, gospel, country, and rhythm
& blues, they have released twelve studio albums, with three
reaching the top 5 on the Billboard Blues Albums chart.[2] They have
gained a following by playing regularly at summer folk, blues, gospel,
and jazz festivals.[1] They’ve recorded with Van Morrison, Peter
Gabriel, Odetta, Phoebe Snow, Willie Nelson, Freddie Roulette, Rosanne
Cash, Levon Helm and Joan Osborne, and have gigged all over the
world—including performing for President Bill Clinton. They won the
Blues Music Award from the Memphis-based Blues Foundation for Band of
the Year in 2005 and for the Soul Blues Album of the Year in 2008.[3]
USA Today calls The Holmes Brothers’ music "Rootsy R&B, gospel and
country. They are glorious, full of soul and surprises."[4] The New
Yorker says, “The Holmes Brothers are capable of awesome
achievements.”[5] National Public Radio adds, “Their voices are rough
enough for a juke joint and smooth enough for church.”[6]
Biography
Sherman and Wendell Holmes were born and raised in Christchurch, Virginia. Their schoolteacher parents fostered the boys’ early interest in music as they listened to traditional Baptist hymns, anthems and spirituals as well as blues music by Jimmy Reed, Junior Parker and B.B. King. They both sang in the church choir. Sherman studied clarinet and piano before taking up the bass, while Wendell learned trumpet, organ and guitar. Sherman studied composition and music theory at Virginia State University, but in 1959, he dropped out and headed to New York for a job playing with singer Jimmy Jones (of "Handy Man" fame). His younger brother Wendell joined him after completing high school. The two brothers played in a few bands before forming The Sevilles in 1963. The group lasted only three years, but they often backed up touring blues and soul acts such as artists like The Impressions, John Lee Hooker and Jerry Butler, gaining experience. After The Sevilles disbanded, Sherman, Wendell and a fellow Virginian, drummer Popsy Dixon, continued to play in a variety of Top 40 bar bands. Wendell also toured with Inez and Charlie Foxx ("Mockingbird") until 1979.[7]
Sherman, Wendell, and Popsy convened in the form of a new group known as the Holmes Brothers in 1979. The three share vocals (some solo and some in gospel-inspired harmony), with Sherman playing bass, Wendell on guitar and piano, and Popsy on drums.[7] The band frequently plays with additional musicians as well.[1] The trio moved from their hometown of Christchurch, Virginia to Harlem where they regularly performed at blues clubs, most notably Dan Lynch's, a center of the local New York City blues scene. Here the Holmes Brothers formed working relationships with future blues/folk stars such as Joan Osborne and members of Blues Traveler.[7]
The group signed with Rounder Records in 1989 and released their first album In the Spirit the following year. Four subsequent albums would be recorded for the label.[1] In 1992, the Holmes Brothers were signed to Peter Gabriel's Real World Records as the first American act on the prestigious world music label. In the mid 1990s the group performed with Van Morrison and recorded the soundtrack to the independent film Lotto Land, in which they also starred. In 1997, they were hired by Joan Osborne as her backing band for a tour supporting Bob Dylan.[7] In 1998 the trio accompanied Freddie Roulette on his album, Spirit of Steel.
In 2001 the Holmes Brothers signed with Alligator Records. Their first album for the label was the critically acclaimed Speaking in Tongues, produced by Joan Osborne. Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune called it a “joyous, foot-stomping carnival…a gift to the world of music.”[8] The Chicago Sun-Times called it, "A Breathtaking and heartfelt journey through gospel-drenched soul, blues, funk and country."[9] The Holmes Brothers appeared on television on the Late Show with David Letterman and The CBS Saturday Early Show, as well as on NPR’s Weekend Edition, A Prairie Home Companion and Mountain Stage. In addition, The Holmes Brothers appeared on the M.C. Records tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Shout, Sister, Shout, backing Joan Osborne, Odella, Victoria Williams and Phoebe Snow.
In 2003 the group recorded two songs for the soundtrack album for the TV series Crossing Jordan.[10] Also in 2003, Peter Gabriel released the single, "Burn You Up, Burn You Down," featuring backing vocals by The Holmes Brothers.
Following their next album for Alligator, Simple Truths, they appeared on Outlaws And Angels—The Willie Nelson and Friends 3rd Annual Birthday Concert (televised on USA Network and released on CD and DVD), Late Night with Conan O'Brien, World Cafe, Mountain Stage, as well as the nationally broadcast NPR programs All Things Considered, On Point, and Here And Now. The albums Simple Truths and State of Grace became the first two Holmes Brothers albums to reach the Billboard charts, with both reaching the top five of the Blues Albums chart.[2] After the release of State of Grace, the band again performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Features and reviews ran in USA Today, The New York Times, Billboard, Time Out New York, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker and many other publications. State of Grace won the Blues Music Award for Soul Blues Album of the Year. Reviewer David Fricke of Rolling Stone called the album “impressive, fervent country soul.”[11]
On March 2, 2010, the brothers released the album Feed My Soul, which was inspired in part by Wendell's bout with cancer.[12] That album was followed by 2013’s Brotherhood. The album was described in Living Blues magazine, which said, "Brotherhood is as soulful and alive as the Holmes Brothers performances and is a superior, award-worthy outing...sweet sounds from the beginning of American rock 'n' roll, African American southern gospel, and agonizingly beautiful, layered soul-baring harmonies, Jimmy Red blues lumps, string squeezing, moving bass lines, strong backbeats, NOLA second-line rhythms, street corner doo-wop and the twangy heartbreak of country. The rich interplay of all this music is what makes the Holmes Brothers a national treasure."[13]
As of 2015, Wendell Holmes was living in Rosedale, MD, while Sherman Holmes resides in Saluda, VA. Popsy Dixon died of bladder cancer on January 9, 2015.
Biography
Sherman and Wendell Holmes were born and raised in Christchurch, Virginia. Their schoolteacher parents fostered the boys’ early interest in music as they listened to traditional Baptist hymns, anthems and spirituals as well as blues music by Jimmy Reed, Junior Parker and B.B. King. They both sang in the church choir. Sherman studied clarinet and piano before taking up the bass, while Wendell learned trumpet, organ and guitar. Sherman studied composition and music theory at Virginia State University, but in 1959, he dropped out and headed to New York for a job playing with singer Jimmy Jones (of "Handy Man" fame). His younger brother Wendell joined him after completing high school. The two brothers played in a few bands before forming The Sevilles in 1963. The group lasted only three years, but they often backed up touring blues and soul acts such as artists like The Impressions, John Lee Hooker and Jerry Butler, gaining experience. After The Sevilles disbanded, Sherman, Wendell and a fellow Virginian, drummer Popsy Dixon, continued to play in a variety of Top 40 bar bands. Wendell also toured with Inez and Charlie Foxx ("Mockingbird") until 1979.[7]
Sherman, Wendell, and Popsy convened in the form of a new group known as the Holmes Brothers in 1979. The three share vocals (some solo and some in gospel-inspired harmony), with Sherman playing bass, Wendell on guitar and piano, and Popsy on drums.[7] The band frequently plays with additional musicians as well.[1] The trio moved from their hometown of Christchurch, Virginia to Harlem where they regularly performed at blues clubs, most notably Dan Lynch's, a center of the local New York City blues scene. Here the Holmes Brothers formed working relationships with future blues/folk stars such as Joan Osborne and members of Blues Traveler.[7]
The group signed with Rounder Records in 1989 and released their first album In the Spirit the following year. Four subsequent albums would be recorded for the label.[1] In 1992, the Holmes Brothers were signed to Peter Gabriel's Real World Records as the first American act on the prestigious world music label. In the mid 1990s the group performed with Van Morrison and recorded the soundtrack to the independent film Lotto Land, in which they also starred. In 1997, they were hired by Joan Osborne as her backing band for a tour supporting Bob Dylan.[7] In 1998 the trio accompanied Freddie Roulette on his album, Spirit of Steel.
In 2001 the Holmes Brothers signed with Alligator Records. Their first album for the label was the critically acclaimed Speaking in Tongues, produced by Joan Osborne. Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune called it a “joyous, foot-stomping carnival…a gift to the world of music.”[8] The Chicago Sun-Times called it, "A Breathtaking and heartfelt journey through gospel-drenched soul, blues, funk and country."[9] The Holmes Brothers appeared on television on the Late Show with David Letterman and The CBS Saturday Early Show, as well as on NPR’s Weekend Edition, A Prairie Home Companion and Mountain Stage. In addition, The Holmes Brothers appeared on the M.C. Records tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Shout, Sister, Shout, backing Joan Osborne, Odella, Victoria Williams and Phoebe Snow.
In 2003 the group recorded two songs for the soundtrack album for the TV series Crossing Jordan.[10] Also in 2003, Peter Gabriel released the single, "Burn You Up, Burn You Down," featuring backing vocals by The Holmes Brothers.
Following their next album for Alligator, Simple Truths, they appeared on Outlaws And Angels—The Willie Nelson and Friends 3rd Annual Birthday Concert (televised on USA Network and released on CD and DVD), Late Night with Conan O'Brien, World Cafe, Mountain Stage, as well as the nationally broadcast NPR programs All Things Considered, On Point, and Here And Now. The albums Simple Truths and State of Grace became the first two Holmes Brothers albums to reach the Billboard charts, with both reaching the top five of the Blues Albums chart.[2] After the release of State of Grace, the band again performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Features and reviews ran in USA Today, The New York Times, Billboard, Time Out New York, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker and many other publications. State of Grace won the Blues Music Award for Soul Blues Album of the Year. Reviewer David Fricke of Rolling Stone called the album “impressive, fervent country soul.”[11]
On March 2, 2010, the brothers released the album Feed My Soul, which was inspired in part by Wendell's bout with cancer.[12] That album was followed by 2013’s Brotherhood. The album was described in Living Blues magazine, which said, "Brotherhood is as soulful and alive as the Holmes Brothers performances and is a superior, award-worthy outing...sweet sounds from the beginning of American rock 'n' roll, African American southern gospel, and agonizingly beautiful, layered soul-baring harmonies, Jimmy Red blues lumps, string squeezing, moving bass lines, strong backbeats, NOLA second-line rhythms, street corner doo-wop and the twangy heartbreak of country. The rich interplay of all this music is what makes the Holmes Brothers a national treasure."[13]
As of 2015, Wendell Holmes was living in Rosedale, MD, while Sherman Holmes resides in Saluda, VA. Popsy Dixon died of bladder cancer on January 9, 2015.
The Holmes Brothers - There's a train
Cecil Barfield aka 'William Robertson' *19.12.1921
Cecil Barfield was a truly unique country bluesman with a primitive but extremely rewarding style. Born in 1922, he started playing music when he was five years old and until he was recorded by George Mitchell in 1976 he played exclusively for for his friends and relatives. Cecil was extremely superstitious and when an LP was released of some of his recordings they were issued under the assumed name of William Robertson and he wouldn't allow a photo of him to be used since someone could turn it face down and he would die. He is an intense and unique vocalist with an odd strangulated style which may take some getting used to but is remarkably effective. He was also a fine propulsive guitarist that sounds more Mississippi than Georgia. His material is a mix of original songs and covers of blues records that he makes very much his own. Some of the material has a loose free form style that brings to mind Robert Pete Williams particularly in the wonderful semi spoken Root Blues. Presumably his fears wouldn't have allowed him to travel so only a handful of people outside his community had a chance to see him perform which is a real shame as he was a major discovery.
One of the the most striking musicians recorded by George Mitchell was Cecil Barfield, and I agree with Mitchell’s assessment that he was some kind of genius. Mitchell called him "probably the greatest previously unrecorded bluesman I have had the pleasure of recording during my 15 years of field research." …Cecil was illiterate, but he was a genius. He couldn't read or write, but he was a highly intelligent person. I would stay up for hours, just talking to Cecil. …People from Germany and Italy wanted to have him come play, but he was not going anywhere." He began playing blues at five years old, using a cooking oil can he had rigged up with a neck and one string. He took up guitar at 12, and started playing rag and dance pieces before developing his distinctive bottleneck style. As Mitchell recalled: "We were recording Cecil in this tiny sharecropper's shack in some guy's plantation." Needless to say the plantation owner was not happy who called the sheriff on Mitchell.
Using the name William Robertson, in fear of endangering his welfare checks, he cut the LP South Georgia Blues for Southland in the mid-70's with several other tracks appearing on Flyright’s Georgia Blues Today (reissued by Fat Possum). I imagine Barfield is an acquired taste but to me he is simply mesmerizing; his music, with his droning, lightly distorted electric guitar coupled with his powerful mushed mouth, nasal singing, is hypnotic. Barfield has some originals but his genius is in the way he transforms well known songs by Frankie Lee Sims ("Lucy Mae Blues"), Lightnin’ Hopkins ("Mojo Hand"), J.B. Lenoir ("Talk To Your Daughter") and others into something startlingly original. Mitchell recorded Barfield extensively and there were a couple of digital collections available at one point. Art Rosenbaum and Axel Küstner also record Barfield. Barfield was born in 1922 and was farmer all his life until a back injury forced him to retire. On how he came up with his songs he told Art Rosenbaum "your heart feels a certain way, then your mind follows, then you hands follow that."
Cecil Barfield (William Robertson) - Love Blues
R.I.P.
Blind Lemon Jefferson +19.12.1929
„Blind“ Lemon Jefferson (* 24. September 1893 in Coutchman, Texas; † Dezember 1929 in Chicago, Illinois) war ein in den 1920er Jahren sehr populärer und einflussreicher US-amerikanischer Bluessänger und -gitarrist. Er gilt als bedeutendster Vertreter und einer der Väter des Texas Blues und war der erste Country-Blues-Musiker, dessen Aufnahmen kommerziell erfolgreich waren. Sein Erfolg war ausschlaggebend für den Durchbruch des Country Blues in der Plattenindustrie und ermöglichte so indirekt auch anderen Musikern Aufnahmen und Karrieren.
Kindheit und Jugend
Lange wurde 1897 als Geburtsjahr vermutet, jedoch ergaben Nachforschungen von Bruce Roberts 1996, dass er bereits im September 1893 als siebtes Kind der Farmerfamilie von Alec und Cassie Jefferson auf die Welt kam. Er war entweder von Geburt an praktisch blind oder erblindete in frühester Jugend, es wird jedoch als wahrscheinlich angenommen, dass er noch rudimentäre Sehfähigkeit besaß, als Indizien dafür werden seine Brille, seine (kurzfristige) Tätigkeit als Wrestler sowie die Tatsache, dass er unterwegs meist eine Schusswaffe trug, gewertet.
Als seine Familie während seiner frühen Jugend in die Gemeinde der Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church in Kirvin, Texas eintrat, begann er zu singen und Gitarre zu erlernen, um dort und in anderen Gemeinden zu spielen. Mit zunehmender Sicherheit auf dem Instrument spielte er auch in umliegenden Orten und bei Festen auf, die einzige Möglichkeit für ihn als Blinden, etwas Geld zu verdienen.
Umzug nach Dallas und Karrierebeginn
1912 zog er um nach Dallas, wo er weiterhin als Straßenmusiker arbeitete und bei Picknicks und Partys aufspielte.
In Dallas lernte er auch Leadbelly kennen, der ihn längere Zeit auf der Gitarre, der Mandoline sowie dem Akkordeon begleitete und ihm später das Stück Blind Lemon Blues widmete. 1918 zerbrach die Partnerschaft jedoch, als Leadbelly wegen Mordes ins Gefängnis kam. Während seiner Reisen durch die Lokale der Rotlichtbezirke in den größeren Städten von Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi und bis an die Ostküste der USA wurde er gelegentlich von jungen Musikern begleitet, die ihm auch als Führer dienten, unter anderem Josh White, Aaron „T-Bone“ Walker sowie möglicherweise George Carter.
1922 oder 1923 heiratete Jefferson in Dallas Roberta (Nachname unbekannt), um 1925 wurde er Vater eines Sohnes. Die Ehe zerbrach jedoch wenige Jahre später wieder.
Aufnahmen und Ruhm
Seit 1923 hatte die Plattenfirma Paramount Records erstmals in ihrer Firmengeschichte einigen Erfolg durch ihre sogenannte Race Series, eine Schallplattenreihe mit Aufnahmen schwarzer Künstler für ein schwarzes Publikum. Bei den damaligen Blues-Aufnahmen handelte es sich zumeist um sogenannten Vaudeville oder auch Classic Blues, von Frauen gesungene Stücke, häufig mit orchestraler Begleitung und urbanem Hintergrund.
1925 gelang es Paramount, mit dem Schallplattenhändler R.T. Ashford aus Dallas einen Vertriebsvertrag abzuschließen. Dieser schlug Paramount vor, auch einen lokal in Dallas bekannten Musiker in ihr Portfolio aufzunehmen. Paramount gab diesem Wunsch nach. So nahm Blind Lemon Jefferson Ende 1925, Anfang 1926 in Chicago, Illinois zum ersten Mal auf und debütierte im März 1926 mit der Platte Booster Blues/Dry Southern Blues, die sich unmittelbar zu einem großen Hit entwickelte. Bis 1929 nahm er für Paramount 79 Singles auf, von der jede geschätzte 100.000 Mal verkauft wurde, darunter Matchbox Blues, Black Snake Moan und See that My Grave is Kept Clean. Zwei Singles erschienen auch beim Label Okeh und unter dem Pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates.
Der große Bekanntheitsgrad von Blind Lemon Jefferson und seiner Zeitgenossen wie z. B. des Gitarristen Blind Blake und der Sängerin Ma Rainey machten Paramount zu einem der führenden Produzenten des Blues in den 1920er Jahren. Jefferson ermöglichte sein Erfolg, sich einen Wagen mit Chauffeur zu leisten.
Tod
Jefferson starb Ende Dezember 1929 vermutlich an einem Herzschlag während eines Schneesturms auf den Straßen von Chicago.
Der Pianist Will Ezell begleitete ihn auf der von Paramount Records bezahlten Überstellung nach Texas. Jefferson ist am Wortham Negro Cemetery (heute Wortham Black Cemetery) begraben. Sein Grab war allerdings lange Zeit nicht einmal gekennzeichnet, geschweige denn gepflegt („See That My Grave is Kept Clean“), bis 1967 ein Texas Historical Marker am ungefähren Ort seines Grabes errichtet wurde, die genaue Lage blieb unbekannt. 1996 waren Friedhof und Markierung wieder in schlechtem Zustand, bis 1997 ein neuer Granitgrabstein errichtet wurde.
Werk
Jeffersons Repertoire bestand anfangs ausschließlich aus geistlichen Liedern. Erst allmählich erweiterte er es zunehmend um Bluesstücke, für den Rest seiner Karriere sollte sich sein Repertoire stets aus beiden Genres zusammensetzen, er war nie ein reiner Bluessänger.
Got The Blues, Long Lonesome Blues und die später gefeierten Stücke wie Matchbox Blues und Black Snake Moan zeigen seinen ungewöhnlichen, recht bodenständigen Zugang zur Musik und den weiten Bogen seiner Themen, von Sex und Partys geprägte humorvolle Stücke, über Bilder betrügerischer Frauen, schwere Zeiten bis zu dunklen Themen über Gefängnis und Tod.
Der oft traurige Klang seiner hohen Stimme wurde durch seinen erstaunlich komplexen, einfallsreichen und schnellen Gitarrenstil ergänzt und aufgeheitert.
Rezeption
Jefferson wird als einer der ersten Repräsentanten des klassischen Blues und einer der besten Folk-Blues Sänger der 1920er Jahre betrachtet und hat Größen wie Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Bix Beiderbecke, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, B. B. King, Albert King, T-Bone Walker und den (damals acht Jahre alten) Lightnin’ Hopkins beeinflusst. Viele seiner Stücke wie der Klassiker See That My Grave is Kept Clean wurden von späteren Musikern (z. B. von Bob Dylan) gecovert.
Blind Lemon Jefferson wurde 1980 von der Blues Foundation in die Blues Hall of Fame aufgenommen, im Jahr 2010 wurde sein Song Match Box Blues ebenfalls in die Hall of Fame aufgenommen.
"Blind" Lemon Jefferson (born Lemon Henry Jefferson; September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled "Father of the Texas Blues".[2]
Jefferson's performances were distinctive as a result of his high-pitched voice and originality on the guitar.[2] Although his recordings sold well, he was not so influential on some younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as they could other commercially successful artists.[3] Later blues and rock and roll musicians did attempt to imitate both his songs and his musical style.[2]
Biography
Early life
Lemon Henry Jefferson was born blind, near Coutchman in Freestone County, near present-day Wortham, Texas. He was one of eight children born to sharecroppers Alex and Clarissa Jefferson.[2] Disputes regarding his exact birth date derive from contradictory census records and draft registration records. By 1900, the family was farming southeast of Streetman, Texas, and Lemon Jefferson's birth date is indicated as September 1893 in the 1900 census.[4] The 1910 census, taken in May before his birthday, further confirms his year of birth as 1893, and indicated the family was farming northwest of Wortham, near Lemon Jefferson's birthplace.[5]
In his 1917 draft registration, Jefferson gave his birth date as October 26, 1894, further stating that he then lived in Dallas, Texas and had been blind since birth.[6] In the 1920 Census, he is recorded as having returned to Freestone County and was living with his half-brother, Kit Banks, on a farm between Wortham and Streetman.[7]
Jefferson began playing the guitar in his early teens, and soon after he began performing at picnics and parties. He became a street musician, playing in East Texas towns, in front of barbershops and on streetcorners.[2] According to his cousin, Alec Jefferson, quoted in the notes for Blind Lemon Jefferson, Classic Sides:
They were rough. Men were hustling women and selling bootleg and Lemon was singing for them all night... he'd start singing about eight and go on until four in the morning... mostly it would be just him sitting there and playing and singing all night.
In the early 1910s, Jefferson began traveling frequently to Dallas, where he met and played with fellow blues musician Lead Belly.[2] In Dallas, Jefferson was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement developing in the Deep Ellum section of Dallas. Jefferson likely moved to Deep Ellum in a more permanent fashion by 1917, where he met Aaron Thibeaux Walker, also known as T-Bone Walker. Jefferson taught Walker the basics of blues guitar in exchange for Walker's occasional services as a guide. By the early 1920s, Jefferson was earning enough money for his musical performances to support a wife, and possibly a child.[2] However, firm evidence for both his marriage and any offspring is unavailable.
Beginning of recording career
Prior to Jefferson, very few artists had recorded solo voice and blues guitar, the first of which was vocalist Sara Martin and guitarist Sylvester Weaver. Jefferson's music is uninhibited and represented the classic sounds of everyday life from a honky-tonk to a country picnic to street corner blues to work in the burgeoning oil fields, a further reflection of his interest in mechanical objects and processes.[8]
Jefferson did what very few had ever done – he became a successful solo guitarist and male vocalist in the commercial recording world.[9] Unlike many artists who were "discovered" and recorded in their normal venues, in December 1925 or January 1926, he was taken to Chicago, Illinois, to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically, Jefferson's first two recordings from this session were gospel songs ("I Want to be like Jesus in my Heart" and "All I Want is that Pure Religion"), released under the name Deacon L. J. Bates. This led to a second recording session in March 1926. His first releases under his own name, "Booster Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues", were hits; this led to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues," which became a runaway success, with sales in six figures. He recorded about 100 tracks between 1926 and 1929; 43 records were issued, all but one for Paramount Records. Unfortunately, Paramount Records' studio techniques and quality were bad, and the resulting recordings sound no better than if they had been recorded in a hotel room. In fact, in May 1926, Paramount had Jefferson re-record his hits "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues" in the superior facilities at Marsh Laboratories, and subsequent releases used those version. Both versions appear on compilation albums and may be compared.[citation needed]
Success with Paramount records
Largely due to the popularity of artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson and contemporaries such as Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s.[10] Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (although there is debate over the reliability of this as well); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a frequently-seen compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of pigeonholing his music into one regional category.[citation needed]
Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made him easy to market. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal ranges opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob.[9] He sticks to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s at which time Davis and fellow entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar.[11]
Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to OKeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and OKeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues" backed with "Black Snake Moan," which was to be his only OKeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than on his Paramount records at the time. When he had returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, under producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his now classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (once again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates) along with two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". Of the three, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928.[citation needed]
Death and grave
Jefferson died in Chicago at 10:00 am on December 19, 1929, of what his death certificate called "probably acute myocarditis".[12] For many years, apocryphal rumors circulated that a jealous lover had poisoned his coffee, but a more likely scenario is that he died of a heart attack after becoming disoriented during a snowstorm. Some have said that Jefferson died from a heart attack after being attacked by a dog in the middle of the night. More recently, the book, Tolbert's Texas, claimed that he was killed while being robbed of a large royalty payment by a guide escorting him to Union Station to catch a train home to Texas. Paramount Records paid for the return of his body to Texas by train, accompanied by pianist William Ezell.
Jefferson was buried at Wortham Negro Cemetery (later Wortham Black Cemetery). Far from his grave being kept clean, it was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas Historical Marker was erected in the general area of his plot, the precise location being unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, but a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. In 2007, the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery and his gravesite is kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham, Texas.[13]
Discography and awards
See also: Blind Lemon Jefferson discography
Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the Texas blues sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including Lead Belly and Lightnin' Hopkins.
He was the author of many tunes covered by later musicians, including the classic "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". Another of his tunes, "Matchbox Blues", was recorded more than 30 years later by The Beatles, albeit in a rockabilly version credited to Carl Perkins, who himself did not credit Jefferson on his 1955 recording. Given this influence, it is unfortunate that many of the details of his life remain shrouded in mystery, perhaps forever; even the only known picture of him, shown above, is heavily retouched, with a fake tie painted in by hand.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed Jefferson's 1927 recording "Matchbox Blues" one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll.[14] Jefferson was among the inaugural class of blues musicians inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.
Blind
Lemon Jefferson-Easy Rider Blues
Jimmy Rogers +19.12.1997
Jimmy Rogers (* 1924 in Ruleville, Mississippi; † 19. Dezember 1997; eigentlicher Name James A. Lane) war ein US-amerikanischer Blues-Gitarrist und Komponist, der in den 1950ern in der Band von Muddy Waters spielte.
Rogers wuchs in Memphis (Tennessee) auf. Seine musikalischen Vorbilder und Lehrmeister waren Big Bill Broonzy, Joe Willie Wilkins und Robert Junior Lockwood. In den 1940ern ging Rogers nach Chicago, wo er u. a. mit Sonny Boy Williamson I., Sunnyland Slim und Big Bill Broonzy auftrat.
1947 machte Rogers erste Aufnahmen unter eigenem Namen, die jedoch nicht veröffentlicht wurden. Zu dieser Zeit spielte er die zweite Gitarre bei Muddy Waters, mit dem er ab 1949 Aufnahmen für das kurzlebige Label Tempo-Tone machte.[1] 1950 kam bei Chess Records sein eigenes Stück That's All Right heraus, das ein Blues-Klassiker werden sollte. Es folgten weitere Erfolge, darunter Sloppy Drunk und Chicago Bound, beide 1954. Als Mitglied der Band von Muddy Waters spielte er im Mai 1952 Gitarre bei dem Mundharmonika-Instrumentalhit Juke von Little Walter.
1955 verließ Rogers die Band von Waters, um solo zu arbeiten. 1957 erschien Walking By Myself, 1959 dann Rock This House. Danach zog sich Rogers weitestgehend aus der Musikszene zurück, da der Rock'n'Roll dem Blues den Rang abgelaufen hatte.
Erst Anfang der 1970er kehrte Rogers ins Studio zurück. 1972 spielte er mit Leon Russell, 1977 auch wieder mit Waters. In Europa wurde er begeistert aufgenommen. Sein Sohn James D. Lane begleitete ihn bei seinen späteren Auftritten und Aufnahmen.
1995 wurde Jimmy Rogers in die Blues Hall of Fame aufgenommen. Als Rogers 1997 starb, arbeitete er gerade an einem All-Star-Projekt mit Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills, Jeff Healey, Taj Mahal, Robert Plant und Jimmy Page sowie Mick Jagger und Keith Richards. Nach seinem Tod erschien das Album 1999 unter dem Titel Blues, Blues, Blues.
Rogers wuchs in Memphis (Tennessee) auf. Seine musikalischen Vorbilder und Lehrmeister waren Big Bill Broonzy, Joe Willie Wilkins und Robert Junior Lockwood. In den 1940ern ging Rogers nach Chicago, wo er u. a. mit Sonny Boy Williamson I., Sunnyland Slim und Big Bill Broonzy auftrat.
1947 machte Rogers erste Aufnahmen unter eigenem Namen, die jedoch nicht veröffentlicht wurden. Zu dieser Zeit spielte er die zweite Gitarre bei Muddy Waters, mit dem er ab 1949 Aufnahmen für das kurzlebige Label Tempo-Tone machte.[1] 1950 kam bei Chess Records sein eigenes Stück That's All Right heraus, das ein Blues-Klassiker werden sollte. Es folgten weitere Erfolge, darunter Sloppy Drunk und Chicago Bound, beide 1954. Als Mitglied der Band von Muddy Waters spielte er im Mai 1952 Gitarre bei dem Mundharmonika-Instrumentalhit Juke von Little Walter.
1955 verließ Rogers die Band von Waters, um solo zu arbeiten. 1957 erschien Walking By Myself, 1959 dann Rock This House. Danach zog sich Rogers weitestgehend aus der Musikszene zurück, da der Rock'n'Roll dem Blues den Rang abgelaufen hatte.
Erst Anfang der 1970er kehrte Rogers ins Studio zurück. 1972 spielte er mit Leon Russell, 1977 auch wieder mit Waters. In Europa wurde er begeistert aufgenommen. Sein Sohn James D. Lane begleitete ihn bei seinen späteren Auftritten und Aufnahmen.
1995 wurde Jimmy Rogers in die Blues Hall of Fame aufgenommen. Als Rogers 1997 starb, arbeitete er gerade an einem All-Star-Projekt mit Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills, Jeff Healey, Taj Mahal, Robert Plant und Jimmy Page sowie Mick Jagger und Keith Richards. Nach seinem Tod erschien das Album 1999 unter dem Titel Blues, Blues, Blues.
Jimmy Rogers (June 3, 1924 – December 19, 1997)[2] was a Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player,[1] best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters' band of the 1950s.[3] He also had solo hits on the R&B chart with "That's All Right" in 1950 and "Walking By Myself" in 1954.
He withdrew from the music industry at the end of the 1950s, only returning to recording and touring in the 1970s.
Career
Jimmy Rogers was born James A. Lane in Ruleville, Mississippi on June 3, 1924 and was raised in Atlanta and Memphis.[4] He adapted the professional surname 'Rogers' from his stepfather's last name.[3] Rogers learned the harmonica alongside his childhood friend Snooky Pryor, and as a teenager took up the guitar and played professionally in East St. Louis, Illinois, where he played with Robert Lockwood, Jr. among others, before moving to Chicago in the mid-1940s.[citation needed] By 1946, Rodgers had recorded as a harmonica player and singer for the Harlem record label run by J. Mayo Williams. Rogers' name did not appear on the record, which was mislabeled as the work of "Memphis Slim and his Houserockers."
In 1947, Rogers, Muddy Waters and Little Walter began playing together as Muddy Waters' first band in Chicago (sometimes referred to as "The Headcutters" or "The Headhunters" due to their practice of stealing jobs from other local bands), while the band members each recorded and released music credited to each of them as solo artists. The first Muddy Waters band defined the sound of the nascent "Chicago Blues" style (more specifically "South Side" Chicago Blues). Rogers made several more sides of his own with small labels in Chicago, but none were released at the time. He began to enjoy success as a solo artist with Chess Records in 1950, scoring a hit with "That's All Right", but he stayed with Muddy Waters until 1954.[3] In the mid-1950s he had several successful releases on the Chess label, most featuring either Little Walter Jacobs or Big Walter Horton on harmonica, most notably "Walking By Myself",[5] but as the 1950s drew to a close and interest in the blues waned, he gradually withdrew from the music industry.[3]
In the early 1960s Rogers briefly worked as a member of Howling Wolf's band, before quitting the music business altogether for almost a decade. He worked as a taxicab driver and owned a clothing store that burned down in the 1968 Chicago riots that followed the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He gradually began performing in public again, and in 1971 when fashions made him a reasonable draw in Europe, Rogers began occasionally touring and recording, including a 1977 reunion session with his old bandleader Muddy Waters. By 1982, Rogers was again a full-time solo artist.
In 1995 Rogers was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.[6]
He continued touring and recording albums until his death from colon cancer in Chicago in 1997.[2] He was survived by his son, Jimmy D. Lane, who is also a guitarist and a record producer and recording engineer for Blue Heaven Studios and APO Records.
Floyd Jones (July 21, 1917 – December 19, 1989) was an American blues singer, guitarist and songwriter, who is significant as one of the first of the new generation of electric blues artists to record in Chicago after World War II. A number of Jones' recordings are regarded as classics of the Chicago blues idiom,[1] and his song "On The Road Again" was a top ten hit for Canned Heat in 1968.[2] Notably for a blues artist of his era, several of his songs have economic or social themes, such as "Stockyard Blues" (which refers to a strike at the Union Stock Yards), "Hard Times" or "Schooldays".[3]
Life and career
Jones was born in Marianna, Arkansas. He started playing guitar seriously after being given a guitar by Howlin' Wolf, and worked as an itinerant musician in the Arkansas and Mississippi area in the 1930s and early 1940s, before settling in Chicago in 1945.[4]
In Chicago, Jones took up the electric guitar, and was one of a number of musicians playing on Maxwell Street and in non-union venues in the late 1940s, who played an important role in the development of the post-war Chicago blues sound. This group included Little Walter and Jimmy Rogers, both of who went on to become mainstays of the Muddy Waters band, and also Snooky Pryor, Floyd's cousin Moody Jones and mandolin player Johnny Young. His first recording session in 1947, with Pryor on harmonica and Moody on guitar, produced the sides "Stockyard Blues" and "Keep What You Got", which formed one of the two records released by the Marvel Label, and was one of the first examples of the new style on record. A second session in 1949 resulted in a release on the similarly short-lived Tempo-Tone label. During the 1950s Jones also had records released on JOB, Chess and Vee-Jay, and in 1966 he recorded for the Testament label's Masters of Modern Blues series.[5] Earwig released the album, Old Friends Together for the First Time, that recorded Jones along with David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Sunnyland Slim, Big Walter Horton, and Kansas City Red. Jones was featured with vocals and lead guitar on the track "Mr. Freddy Blues", and with vocals on "Banty Rooster".[6]
Jones continued performing in Chicago for the rest of his life, although he had few further recording opportunities. Later in his career the electric bass became his main instrument.[1] He died in Chicago in December 1989.
Floyd Jones (On The Road Again, 1953) Blues Legend
ChicagoBlues.com is reporting that the Chicago Blues community has received shocking and tragic news today. Energetic young blues man Eric “Guitar” Davis was shot and killed early this morning. He was headed home after hanging out late at the Kingston Mines blues club on Halsted Ave in Chicago. Davis was a fiery performer with a bright future who will be sorely missed. He was just signed to Delmark Records — an indication of his rapidly rising star.
The son of well-known blues drummer Bobby “Top Hat” Davis, Davis had a reputation for being a consummate professional. He had two small children.
A 72-year old church deacon known for working with children was also shot to death minutes earlier and just blocks away. As he pulled up in the 7000 block of South East End Avenue, Police said he was ambushed by gunmen who opened fire on his Chevy sedan.
About a half hour later, Davis was found dead in a car around three blocks north, in the 6700 block of South East End Avenue, police said. He had also been shot several times.
The son of well-known blues drummer Bobby “Top Hat” Davis, Davis had a reputation for being a consummate professional. He had two small children.
A 72-year old church deacon known for working with children was also shot to death minutes earlier and just blocks away. As he pulled up in the 7000 block of South East End Avenue, Police said he was ambushed by gunmen who opened fire on his Chevy sedan.
About a half hour later, Davis was found dead in a car around three blocks north, in the 6700 block of South East End Avenue, police said. He had also been shot several times.
Eric "guitar" Davis at the Beale on Broadway
Pops Staples +19.12.2000
Pops Staples (eigentlich
Roebuck Staples; * 2. Dezember 1915 in Winona, Mississippi; † 19.
Dezember 2000 in Chicago, Illinois) war ein US-amerikanischer Gospel-
und R&B-Musiker. Er war Gründer, Leiter und Mitglied der
Gesangsgruppe The Staple Singers, der auch sein Sohn Pervis und seine
Töchter Mavis, Yvonne und Cleotha angehörten. Er spielte Gitarre, sang
und komponierte.
Staples, geboren im US-Bundesstaat Mississippi, war ein enger Freund von Charley Patton. Er musizierte u. a. mit Bluesgrößen wie Robert Johnson, Son House und Robert Lockwood Jr. Der versierte Blues-Gitarrist wandte sich in den 1930er Jahren verstärkt der kirchlichen Musik zu und wurde 1937 Mitglied der Gospelgruppe The Golden Trumpets.
1941 zog Staples nach Chicago, wo er sich den Trumpet Jubilees anschloss. Mit seinen Töchtern Mavis und Cleotha sowie seinem Sohn Pervis trat er regelmäßig bei Gottesdiensten auf. Schließlich gaben sie unter dem Namen The Staple Singers auch Bühnenkonzerte.
Ursprünglich eine Gospelgruppe, hatten die Staple Singers Ende der 1960er ihre ersten kommerziellen Erfolge mit Soul-Stücken. Anfang der 1970er hatten sie mit dem Funk-Titel I'll Take You There einen Hit. Ihre vielleicht bekannteste Nummer war Let's Do It Again.
1992 veröffentlichte Staples das Soloalbum Peace to the Neighborhood, mit dem er zu seinen Blues- und Gospelwurzeln zurückkehrte. Mit dem Album Father Father von 1994 gewann er einen Grammy für das beste zeitgenössische Bluesalbum. Staples spielte auch in einigen Filmen mit, darunter 1998 in Wag the Dog.
Pops Staples starb im Dezember 2000 im Alter von 85 Jahren. Die Aufnahmen zu einem Abschiedsalbum der Staple Singers, das aufgrund seines Todes zunächst nicht fertiggestellt werden konnte, wurden 2014 auf Initiative seiner jüngsten Tochter Mavis mithilfe des Produzenten Jeff Tweedy vollendet und erschienen unter dem Titel Don't Lose This auf CD und LP.
Staples, geboren im US-Bundesstaat Mississippi, war ein enger Freund von Charley Patton. Er musizierte u. a. mit Bluesgrößen wie Robert Johnson, Son House und Robert Lockwood Jr. Der versierte Blues-Gitarrist wandte sich in den 1930er Jahren verstärkt der kirchlichen Musik zu und wurde 1937 Mitglied der Gospelgruppe The Golden Trumpets.
1941 zog Staples nach Chicago, wo er sich den Trumpet Jubilees anschloss. Mit seinen Töchtern Mavis und Cleotha sowie seinem Sohn Pervis trat er regelmäßig bei Gottesdiensten auf. Schließlich gaben sie unter dem Namen The Staple Singers auch Bühnenkonzerte.
Ursprünglich eine Gospelgruppe, hatten die Staple Singers Ende der 1960er ihre ersten kommerziellen Erfolge mit Soul-Stücken. Anfang der 1970er hatten sie mit dem Funk-Titel I'll Take You There einen Hit. Ihre vielleicht bekannteste Nummer war Let's Do It Again.
1992 veröffentlichte Staples das Soloalbum Peace to the Neighborhood, mit dem er zu seinen Blues- und Gospelwurzeln zurückkehrte. Mit dem Album Father Father von 1994 gewann er einen Grammy für das beste zeitgenössische Bluesalbum. Staples spielte auch in einigen Filmen mit, darunter 1998 in Wag the Dog.
Pops Staples starb im Dezember 2000 im Alter von 85 Jahren. Die Aufnahmen zu einem Abschiedsalbum der Staple Singers, das aufgrund seines Todes zunächst nicht fertiggestellt werden konnte, wurden 2014 auf Initiative seiner jüngsten Tochter Mavis mithilfe des Produzenten Jeff Tweedy vollendet und erschienen unter dem Titel Don't Lose This auf CD und LP.
Roebuck "Pops" Staples (December 28, 1914 – December 19, 2000) was an American gospel and R&B musician.
A "pivotal figure in gospel in the 1960s and 70s,"[1] he was an accomplished songwriter, guitarist and singer. He was the patriarch and member of singing group The Staple Singers, which included his son Pervis and daughters Mavis, Yvonne, and Cleotha.
Life and career
Roebuck Staples was born on a cotton plantation near Winona, Mississippi, the youngest of 14 children. When growing up he heard, and began to play with, local blues guitarists such as Charlie Patton (who lived on the nearby Dockery Plantation), Robert Johnson, and Son House.[1][2] He dropped out of school after the eighth grade, then sang with a gospel group before marrying and moving to Chicago in 1935.[3]
There he sang with the Trumpet Jubilees while working in the stockyards, in construction work, and later in a steel mill. In 1948 Roebuck and his wife Oceola Staples formed The Staple Singers to sing as a gospel group in local churches, with their children. The Staple Singers first recorded in the early 1950s for United and then the larger Vee-Jay Records, with songs including 1955's "This May Be the Last Time" (later covered by The Rolling Stones as "The Last Time") and "Uncloudy Day".[1]
In the 1960s the Staple Singers moved to Riverside Records and later Stax Records, and began recording protest, inspirational and contemporary music, reflecting the civil rights and anti-war movements of the time. They gained a large new audience with "Respect Yourself" (which featured Pops, nearly 57 at the time, on lead on the long version for more than two minutes), the 1972 US # 1 hit "I'll Take You There", "If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)", and other hits. "Let's Do It Again" topped the Hot 100 on 27 December 1975, the day before his 61st birthday. Pops Staples also recorded a blues album, Jammed Together, with fellow guitarists Albert King and Steve Cropper.[1]
In 1976, Staples also appeared in the movie documenting The Band's final concert, The Last Waltz (released in 1978). Pops Staples shared vocals with his daughters and with Levon Helm and Rick Danko on "The Weight." The group appeared in the concert on stage, but their later performance shot on a soundstage was used in the final film. It is considered by some fans as the definitive version of the song.
After Mavis left for a solo career in the 1980s, Pops Staples began a solo career, appearing at international "blues" festivals (though steadfastly refusing to sing the blues),[1] and tried his hand at acting. His 1992 album Peace to the Neighborhood won a Grammy nomination, and in 1995 he won a Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy for Father, Father.
In 1986, Roebuck played the role of Mr. Tucker, a voodoo witch doctor, in the Talking Heads film True Stories, during which he performed "Papa Legba". He appeared as himself in the 1997 Barry Levinson film Wag the Dog, singing "Good Old Shoe" with Willie Nelson.[4]
In 1998 he received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and in 1999 the Staple Singers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
He died after suffering a concussion in a fall at his home, just nine days short of his 86th birthday. After his death, his daughters Yvonne and Mavis gave one of his guitars to country and gospel musician Marty Stuart.[5]
Influence
Musicians as diverse as Cannonball Adderley, with his live album Why Am I Treated So Bad! (1967), Ry Cooder, Sandy Bull, and Bonnie Raitt[1] have expressed their respect for Staples.
A "pivotal figure in gospel in the 1960s and 70s,"[1] he was an accomplished songwriter, guitarist and singer. He was the patriarch and member of singing group The Staple Singers, which included his son Pervis and daughters Mavis, Yvonne, and Cleotha.
Life and career
Roebuck Staples was born on a cotton plantation near Winona, Mississippi, the youngest of 14 children. When growing up he heard, and began to play with, local blues guitarists such as Charlie Patton (who lived on the nearby Dockery Plantation), Robert Johnson, and Son House.[1][2] He dropped out of school after the eighth grade, then sang with a gospel group before marrying and moving to Chicago in 1935.[3]
There he sang with the Trumpet Jubilees while working in the stockyards, in construction work, and later in a steel mill. In 1948 Roebuck and his wife Oceola Staples formed The Staple Singers to sing as a gospel group in local churches, with their children. The Staple Singers first recorded in the early 1950s for United and then the larger Vee-Jay Records, with songs including 1955's "This May Be the Last Time" (later covered by The Rolling Stones as "The Last Time") and "Uncloudy Day".[1]
In the 1960s the Staple Singers moved to Riverside Records and later Stax Records, and began recording protest, inspirational and contemporary music, reflecting the civil rights and anti-war movements of the time. They gained a large new audience with "Respect Yourself" (which featured Pops, nearly 57 at the time, on lead on the long version for more than two minutes), the 1972 US # 1 hit "I'll Take You There", "If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)", and other hits. "Let's Do It Again" topped the Hot 100 on 27 December 1975, the day before his 61st birthday. Pops Staples also recorded a blues album, Jammed Together, with fellow guitarists Albert King and Steve Cropper.[1]
In 1976, Staples also appeared in the movie documenting The Band's final concert, The Last Waltz (released in 1978). Pops Staples shared vocals with his daughters and with Levon Helm and Rick Danko on "The Weight." The group appeared in the concert on stage, but their later performance shot on a soundstage was used in the final film. It is considered by some fans as the definitive version of the song.
After Mavis left for a solo career in the 1980s, Pops Staples began a solo career, appearing at international "blues" festivals (though steadfastly refusing to sing the blues),[1] and tried his hand at acting. His 1992 album Peace to the Neighborhood won a Grammy nomination, and in 1995 he won a Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy for Father, Father.
In 1986, Roebuck played the role of Mr. Tucker, a voodoo witch doctor, in the Talking Heads film True Stories, during which he performed "Papa Legba". He appeared as himself in the 1997 Barry Levinson film Wag the Dog, singing "Good Old Shoe" with Willie Nelson.[4]
In 1998 he received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and in 1999 the Staple Singers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
He died after suffering a concussion in a fall at his home, just nine days short of his 86th birthday. After his death, his daughters Yvonne and Mavis gave one of his guitars to country and gospel musician Marty Stuart.[5]
Influence
Musicians as diverse as Cannonball Adderley, with his live album Why Am I Treated So Bad! (1967), Ry Cooder, Sandy Bull, and Bonnie Raitt[1] have expressed their respect for Staples.
Pops Staples - Glory Glory
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